How are drugs priced at Bayer?
At Bayer, we are strongly committed to responsible drug prices. The medical need of patients is the driving force behind our research and development. The innovative medicines we develop as a result of this research are priced according to the value they offer to patients and their overall contribution towards reducing the burden of a disease for society.
In Canada, drug pricing is highly regulated. There is a federal body called the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB), which is responsible for regulating the manufacturer’s price for patented medicines in Canada. The PMPRB monitors the prices at launch and throughout the life cycle of a drug to ensure that prices are not excessive.
While they continue to capture public attention, the prices of drugs in Canada are in fact comparable across other advanced countries.
It is also important to separate drug pricing from overall drug costs. The overall cost of a drug includes not only the price for the drug itself, but also dispensing fees and mark-up fees. Dispensing and markup fees, in fact, represent a substantial portion of drug cost to consumers and payers1.
The price of a drug includes much more than the cost of making it. It also includes the costs of drug discovery and drug development, which are both time-consuming and expensive. Bayer invests considerable resources in the research and development of new drugs with the aim of improving patients’ quality of life and prolonging lives. Generally, it takes about 10 to 12 years to develop a new drug. During this time, between 5,000 and 10,000 compounds are studied in numerous laboratory tests, and the best ones are further optimized. Of the four or five drug candidates that are then tested on humans in clinical studies, on average only one substance is approved and becomes available to physicians and patients.
Our researchers never give up, despite the ever-changing challenges confronting them. When it comes to the major issues of our times, with science, we have the power to change the world for the better.